The family of Mallory Owens, the lesbian brutally beaten on Thanksgiving, allegedly by her girlfriend’s brother, is demanding hate crime charges but so far the D.A. is refusing. 18-year-old Travis Hawkins Jr. has been charged with second degree assault by Ashley Rich, the Mobile, Alabama District Attorney, but she is refusing to upgrade the charges to include hate crime charges.

“We are assessing her injuries, everything regarding her hospital stay. But at this time, he is charged with causing serious physical injuries to her, which is assault second degree under the laws of the State of Alabama,” D.A. Rich says.

“He tried to kill her. He’s lucky he didn’t kill her. She’s lucky to be alive,” her mother Kristi Taylor said. “I didn’t recognize her when I got here. It’s hard to look at her like that,” she cried.

The twenty-three year old was celebrating Thanksgiving at her girlfriend’s house in Mobile Thursday night, when her mother says her girlfriend’s brother attacked her, just for being gay.

“She was invited over by the family to eat Thanksgiving. I did not want her to go, I begged her not to go, knowing how the family felt about her. But she said, ‘They’re trying to be nice.’”

Mallory’s mother says this isn’t the first time he’s attacked her. Earlier this year, family members tell News 5 that Travis Hawkins Jr. hit Mallory over the head with a pipe wrench. She was injured, but the family did not pursue charges after that incident.

This time, she was beaten so badly that she’s almost unrecognizable. She had to have facial reconstruction surgery, with metal plates put in her cheek bones. Her sister Avery has been by her side ever since.

“I want him behind bars for life,” said Avery Godwin. “He doesn’t need to be out, because if he does he could do this to someone else or he’ll finish it off with my sister.”